The Ultimate Lounge Chair Is Back on Sale

Our vote for the greatest modern throne goes the 620 chair, designed by Dieter Rams in 1962. After decades when you could only find it at auction for many thousands of dollars, it’s back in production for a mere $3,340 (and up). Expensive? Sure. But the reason the chair is so famous among design nerds is the design philosophy it represents.

Rams, even in the 1950s, was a proponent that the most responsible designs were those that outlived you. So he designed the 620 to be a modular system that could grow and shrink as your needs changed. Release the pig-nosed bolts on one side, remove the arm, and the chair connects to a partner to form a love seat. Or a sofa. Or a long sofa, the length of your mansion’s great hall, if that’s what you want. It’s really more a system of parts that an upholstered monolith. Moreover, its materials are designed to get better with age. One of the most expensive details is the uncorrected leather that retains the imprint of the skin of the bull it came from, so that in 40 years, the chair takes on a rich patina.

Vitsoe redesigned some of the details for the 620’s re-release, which coincided with this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. On top of the coil springs that cushioned the original, Vitsoe added a shaved coconut overlay with a rugged rubber moulding of the type used to store spent nuclear fuel. But Rams’ iconic form was retained. After all, it’s one of the few chairs that can boast a copyright, which it received in 1973, thanks to both its beauty and ingenuity.